This invention relates, in general, to remote vehicle control systems and, in particular, to a remote vehicle speed control system usable for controlling a speed of a vehicle and a method for remotely controlling vehicle speed.
High speed vehicle chases by law enforcement officials and those eluding them are known to cause a great number of injuries and deaths each year. There are several methods for ending such chases including the use of rubber mats with spikes and police road blocks. Such methods contribute to casualties among the pursued, the pursuers, and those in their vicinity due to the uncontrolled nature of these methods. Specifically, the termination of high speed chases using these methods often lead to sudden or uncontrolled stopping of the fleeing vehicles. For example, the puncturing of tires of a fleeing vehicle using rubber mats with spikes could cause a driver of such a vehicle to lose control of the vehicle due to the damaged tires and to collide with another object, e.g., another car or a tree. Also, the installation of a road block may precipitate a fleeing car trying to run through or around any barricades set up. Such action could injure anyone in the path of the fleeing car as it attempts to pass through or drives around the road block.
Thus, a need exists for remotely slowing vehicles in a controlled manner from high speeds thereby enabling vehicles being pursued by law enforcement personnel to be safely brought to a stop.
The present invention provides, in a first aspect, a system for controlling a speed of a vehicle which includes a first communications unit and a second communications unit. The first communications unit is coupled to an engine controller for controlling an engine of a first vehicle. Also, the first communications unit includes a first sending unit for sending a first message to the engine controller. The second communications unit is located remotely from the first communications unit and includes a second sending unit for sending a second message to the first communications unit to cause the first communications unit to send the first message to control the speed of the first vehicle.
The present invention provides, in a second aspect, a method for remotely controlling a speed of a vehicle. The method includes sending a controlling message from a remote communications unit to a proximal communications unit coupled to an engine of a vehicle. The method further includes receiving the controlling message at the proximal communications unit and controlling a speed of the vehicle based on the message.